A journal on contemporary East Asian literature in
English

Wrestling with fate

"Every nation has the government it deserves," says Joseph De
Maistre. Citizens who do not fight for their rights by standing up
to their government are doomed to live in a country where freedom
does not exist and where the needs of its people are not met. For
instance, Gao Xingjian in his play The Bus Stop portrays a
young woman who represents the disillusioned masses of China
complying quietly with Beijing's rulings and abandoning themselves
to fate. Unless action is taken against human rights violations,
the Chinese people will continue to live unhappily in an
undemocratic society.

In The Bus Stop, the girl's disillusionment is caused by her
fear of going against all powerful fate. She waits for a bus, so
that she may go into town to meet a last-hope blind date. She,
however, lacks vision, and is blind to the reality. "It's pitch
black," she says. "I can't see a thing." The young woman fails to
see that she can take charge of her own destiny rather than leaving
it to the bus company. Its disregard for the public parallels that
of the Chinese government, both potentially corrupt and unreliable.
By the same token,the Chinese people, waiting for the authorities
to fulfil earlier promises of wealth are disillusioned.

Although time continues to dim her young charms, she continues to
wait for the bus and hesitates to disrupt the bus company's
transportation services since it is against the law to do so. The
woman demonstrates her submissiveness in her obedience to
authority. She only takes such an innocuous action as shouting for
the bus to stop although it never does. Perhaps Gao suggests more
drastic measures are necessary if the Chinese people want their
voice to be heard. Furthermore, the woman shows her ungainly
compliance when she "follows the crowd" at the bus stop and when
she refuses to wear floral dresses because no one else wears them
in the suburbs.

As a representative of the Chinese masses, she lacks initiative to
fight for a better future. The people must face reality and abandon
the illusion that reliance on fate is the correct way to deal with
problems they have with their government. On the contrary, active
participation in running the political system is the only approach to
reforming an administration.